Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Saturday addressed a public rally in Mahabubnagar in Telangana. On a day-long visit to the state, Shah said that Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao called for early elections in the state because he feared losing. He pointed out that the elections were supposed to be held in May 2019 and asked whether Rao was not confident of his victory in May.

The BJP chief said the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had promised a chief minister from the Scheduled Caste community in 2014, but did not fulfil his promise. He claimed KCR has not undertaken any development work during his tenure either. Shah also took a dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi and said that he dreams of forming a Congress government in Telangana. "The people of Telangana have not forgotten how PV Narasimha Rao was insulted by his party," he added.

The BJP president also emphasised that his party will form a government in Telangana that will not oppress people from the SC community and tribals. Talking about the work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the state, he said that under the 13th Finance Commission, Telangana got only Rs 16,000 crore, which was increased to Rs 1,15,000 crore under the Modi government.

BJP will form such a Telangana where neither the Dalits nor the tribals will be oppressed. Farmers will not be shot at: BJP President Amit Shah in Mahbubnagar, Telangana pic.twitter.com/kwhq7Pdho4 — ANI (@ANI) September 15, 2018

He also mentioned the National Register of Citizens and said they had made an effort to remove infiltrators from Assam, but that the move was opposed by all major parties. "We will ensure that no infiltrator is allowed to live in the country," Shah added.

After the public meeting in Mahabubnagar, Shah is scheduled to meet the party's state office-bearers and district unit presidents in Kothur to discuss the strategy for the elections before returning to Delhi.

He said at a press conference that Rao had initially supported Modi's idea of "one nation, one election", but he was surprised when he suddenly changed his stand. "Rao and TRS have forced a small state to bear the expenditure of two elections. The BJP believes that TRS has put an additional burden of crores of rupees on people to further its political interests," the BJP chief said.

Claiming that the Modi government provided Rs 2.3 lakh crore to Telangana in the last four years against the Rs 15,000 crore given during Congress rule, Shah said, adding that the BJP showed no discrimination towards any state but was opposed to politics of appeasement.

Virtually sounding the poll bugle, Shah also said that the BJP will contest the Telangana Assembly elections on its own. He asserted that his party hoped to emerge as a "deciding factor" in the upcoming polls.

"We are not going to have any political tie-up with the TRS. The BJP will fight on its own strength. We will fight against appeasement politics also," Shah told reporters before leaving for Mahabubnagar.